Lunch Ethics

Dear Ethicist,

I've got a problem. Every day (and I mean every day), my client asks me to join him for lunch. That's terribly nice of him, of course. It's just that I sit face-to-face with the man all day long anyway and usually have exhausted my small talk topics for the day by around 10 a.m. It's also that if I accept, I have to spend my precious half-hour off chatting with all his colleagues. It's also that I can't stand the meatloaf-and-potatoes-type food in my client's cafeteria. Salad bar? Dream on.

So the question is, is it unethical to refuse the lunch invite? My client might be hurt, but then I have to survive another month or two on this project, and if I don't get some private time at midday I feel I'm going to die.


Dear Ms. Manners,

If the Ethicist's answer to the above question is No, how do I refuse my client's lunch invitation without being rude? I don't want to offend him, after all. And I need him to say good things about me to my project leader. Please help.